damned_institute | Nightshift 35: Courtyard

He had caught the scent of the patients long before he saw them come over the wall, before he heard one of them speak to the others. They were out of their rooms, and out where they shouldn't have been. They were all sick, and they wouldn't get better if they were out here. They needed to be resting.

Chopper watched them carefully from a distance, trying to ascertain what the best way to go about this would be. He was no stranger to using violent methods to ensure patient cooperation—he'd been taught by Doctorine, after all—but maybe he could convince them to go back peacefully…

His human form would be best for this, probably. All the patients were humans here, and he didn't want to alarm them with his reindeer forms. In the shadows of the trees, he transformed, his smaller body growing larger as he entered Heavy Point, the straps of his backpack and the waistband of his shorts feeling tighter than before.

Once the transformation was complete, he adjusted his hat and ventured forward, glancing cautiously from face to face as he quietly lumbered towards the small group of patients. He hoped they would listen to reason, but he would be ready to ensure cooperation if they didn't.

"Y-you all... You shouldn't be out here," he said, sounding concerned. Despite his size, his voice sounded like a child's.

"Right across that way..." Renji started answering Lucivar's question, but was interrupted by a bizarre sounding voice. He turned toward it, looking at the person coming toward them.

Sure, maybe it was some kind of innocent mistake. But he very much doubted it. He sighed. "Fucking great," he muttered.

He wasn't familiar with the guy coming toward them, but he had seen him around, he was fairly sure. He hadn't immediately attacked, but then again, neither had Daemon. Maybe he could pull off lying more convincingly to this guy. "That so?" he asked. "We're not looking for trouble, you know. Guess we should go back to our rooms. But considerin' what's on the other side of that well, that way'll be faster." He pointed at the door to the cafeteria.

Lucivar didn't like the look of the creature coming toward them and he was smart enough to take Renji's lead. As much as he'd love to get into a battle, the basement was more important then a minor scuffle. "Come on," he whispered to them, inching towards the door.

"We'll be leaving now," he announced, walking towards the door but keeping an eye on the creature. The last thing he wanted was to be attacked with his back turned.

Chopper was glad to hear that they would go back to their rooms, but he knew enough to know that the door they were trying to head for was the longer way around.

He shook his head firmly. "I can't let you go that way," he insisted. "You have to go back the way you came; it'll definitely be the faster way to go back to your rooms. I... I can take you there, to make sure you get back."

He had caught the scent of someone else in the courtyard, but that scent had faded quickly. There hadn't been too much activity beyond that, however, so he could probably make sure that these patients went back to rest in their rooms and be back before any others tried to defy doctors' orders...

Renji nodded to Rangiku, head tilted slightly toward the cafeteria door. He figured she'd make a run at the front, and he and Lucivar would watch her back.

"No," Renji said. "No. I'm not going back that way. I've seen what that thing can do. Big metal triangle guy. You look cool and all, but he'd still rip you up." He continued edging toward the door. "Made it past once, but ain't gonna try it again. Thanks for the help, man, but no thanks."

He headed for the cafeteria door, keeping it casual for now.

[ooc: Just FYI, Rangiku is with Renji and Lucivar, we're just kind of NPCing her while Zalia is away.]

Lucivar glanced over at Renji, eager to follow his lead. He kept his mouth shut, letting the other man do the talking as he walked across the courtyard, moving fast enough to cover the ground quickly, but slowly so as not to aggravate the strange creature. Once they were safely by the door, Lucivar leaned close to Renji.

"Good thinking," he whispered, hitting the door hard to bust the rusted lock before opening it and ushering the others inside. "Let's hope we don't run into another one of those."

[headed here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/459711.html?thread=38019263#t38019263)]

Chopper heard sounds coming from the wall again, and picked up some other scents. He looked towards the wall between the courtyard and field, trying to see how many patients had come. More and more people were out of their rooms instead of resting like they should...

He looked back at the three he'd been trying to detain a moment later, but they had already reached the door. "H-hey!" he called out, running after them. "Wait!"

They were gone, disappeared through the door. He considered chasing after them, but there were more patients who needed to be sent back... Chopper decided he would just have to trust that they'd go back to their rooms like they'd said.

Again, there was something going on further out into the yard. Matt couldn't spare it too much of a glance, though. He had to move. The entrance to the cafeteria wasn't far now.

Using the shack to climb over meant that he was a bit further from his goal than he would have been if he'd managed to scale the wall, but he couldn't do anything about that now. He ran, but stuck close to the wall to stay in shadow and avoid his feet crunching on the path.

Edited 2008-09-25 19:23 (UTC)

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/460474.html?thread=37459386#t37459386)]

Usopp took his time easing over the wall, crouching on top a few moments before sliding down the other side. The last thing he wanted was to get a sprained ankle or something.

Besides, some of the stuff in his bag was delicate, Usopp was worried things might break open if they were jostled around too much. As soon as he landed, he looked back, to wait for Sanji to leap over the wall in the flash of an eye or something impressive like that.

Well it wasn't quite in the flash of an eye, nor was it exactly with a leap, but Sanji did arrive at the top of the wall soon nonetheless. Once up there, he took a moment to get a look around at his surroundings, or as good a look as he could in the limited light.

Something he saw made him frown, and he was still frowning when he landed on the other side with Usopp.

"Looks like there's some others out here," he commented to the sniper. One figure in particular had been terribly familiar, but that didn't make sense given how he'd appeared in Landel's so far.

There were more people in the Courtyard now, and their scents were much more familiar than those of the previous patients. Maybe they would be cooperative... They should listen to their doctor.

Unlike the previous patients, as well, Chopper didn't need to worry about his form when he approached them. Brain Point would be perfectly fine; he didn't need to pretend that he was a human in order to speak with them.

He reached up to readjust his hat, running towards the wall the two had climbed over. He had to get them to go back to their rooms... "You can't be out here!"

"Oh, Chopper!" Startled by the familiar voice, Usopp turned. At first he was happy, since it meant Chopper didn't have to go by his room, but why was he running? "What's wrong? What are you running from?" Was the triangle-head guy out again? Usopp braced himself, glancing around into the darkness with a squint. He didn't see anything else...

And then something dawned on him, taking far more time to register than when Sai had attacked in the kitchen. "Chopper--you can change back again. You're a normal reindeer monster again instead of a human!"

Normal was relative, anyway. Usopp backed up quickly, raising his open, empty hands. "Don't worry! Everything'll be fine, Chopper!" He wasn't sure what he was saying, but it was pretty hard to hear his own voice over the alarm bells going off in the back of his head anyway. "Sanji-kun and I just came to, uh, visit you!"

Sanji's reaction was very similar to Usopp's, and just as delayed. It was, after all, far more usual to see Chopper as he was now rather than the human boy he appeared as here. Therefore it took a moment to register that he shouldn't look that way in this place.

He smiled nervously alongside the sniper. After all, neither of them wanted to fight their friend if they didn't have to. "Yeah! We were supposed to meet up tonight, remember? Left a note just in case you might have missed us."

If he attacked them, should they make a run for it? Or should they try and knock him out so that he didn't attack others and come to regret it later?

Chopper did remember, but he couldn't seem to recall why he'd thought it was a good idea. Tonight, ensuring that the patients stayed indoors, in their rooms, was much more pressing business than going to Usopp's room, bad idea or not. Usopp, Sanji, everyone: they were all sick, and they wouldn't get better if they didn't listen to those taking care of them.

He was a little touched, honestly, that they'd come out to visit him, but they were still neglecting doctors' orders. And that needed to be remedied.

"We can meet up later," Chopper insisted, crossing his arms. "You two need to rest!"

Maybe Heavy Point would have been better for persuasion after all. He changed to the form, and clamped a hand on each of their shoulders. "You're going back to your rooms now, whether or not you want to." Perhaps the warning was too generous... Doctorine wouldn't have given them that much.

Oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no... Usopp tensed as the hand landed heavily on his shoulder, then let out a loud, nervous laugh that cut off fast. "Cho-Chopper! Don't be so cold! Of course we're going back to our rooms, it's not like we're Zoro or something, you don't have to lead us."

Or beat them unconscious or anything. "We were juuust... worried about you! And we didn't want you to be lonely out here, making sure everyone's a good patient! You work so hard to be a good doctor, so you should get to have some fun too sometimes! Ri-right? I thought I could tell you a story or something while you're waiting for other patients! Sanji came with me to make sure I was okay, since we're both, um, sick, and shouldn't be out alone!"

He cast desperate looks at Sanji between his words. They couldn't just leave their crewmate brainwashed and alone out here, but what else could they do?

"Right!" Sanji agreed quickly. "And when you think about it, it could be dangerous heading back to our rooms. We might run into something along the way and then we'd be in trouble. It would be far safer for us to stay here with you where you can protect us!"

Well, that caused a slight twitch. As much as Sanji respected Chopper, the last thing he needed was to be protected by him.

And if this effort proved futile, Sanji was going to have to go on the offensive. They couldn't leave their nakama here.

As much as Chopper appreciated the sentiment, he couldn't help but feel that they were trying to worm their way out of following doctors' orders. It was cool outside (though he couldn't feel the chill through his fur, even in his more human form), and the last thing he wanted was for them to catch cold from being awake and outside when they shouldn't have been.

He gritted his teeth, removing his hands from their shoulders. If they weren't going to listen to what was best for them... If they weren't going to jeopardize their health... He was just going to have to make them listen.

Chopper clenched his fists. If he had to rough them up, so be it; he could patch them up once they were resting in their rooms. "I said you have to go back!"

He drew back an arm in preparation for a punch, narrowing his eyes at Sanji. Of the two, the chef would likely be the harder to convince; Usopp had sort of already agreed to go... Chopper let the fist fly towards Sanji's face. "Heavy Gong!"

Edited 2008-09-30 04:44 (UTC)

This was even worse than Sai. At least with Sai, he'd barely known any of them, even Usopp was just a new friend. Chopper was already prepared to resort to violence against his own crewmates--maybe it was easier since the 'tough guys' had a bad habit of straining themselves when injured back home, maybe to Chopper all of this still made some kind of weird sense, but Usopp still felt something sink down hard in his stomach when Chopper's fist went back.

They couldn't just leave him. They probably couldn't beat him either, but... Usopp flung himself at the huge furry arm sideways, trying to grab ahold of it with both of his own arms, bracing himself for impact either with Sanji or from the other limb. His bag swung at his side in the air, but he hadn't pulled anything out yet. "Chopper! Chopper, wait! Listen!" Listen to what? They weren't able to listen when they were like this. He had to at least try, though.

The moment Chopper grit his teeth, Sanji's expression fell from grinning to serious. The reindeer wasn't going to listen to them, and that only left one option open. Their crewmate even made it easier on him by swinging first.

Usopp, though... "Usopp! Move!" As Chopper's fist came forward, the chef was already ducking down. He had proper shoes on now, so there would be slightly more power behind his kicks than there had been on previous nights.

Both hands to the ground, he spun one long leg around in a sweep to the sides of Chopper's knees. Weakened as he was, this could get ugly. Better him than other innocent passers by, though.

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